Trespass
Bill Paxton & William Sadler play a couple of firemen who discover a map that may lead to a fortune in missing gold. It all seems like easy money as the building the treasure is stashed in is an old abandoned factory at the edge of town. Unfortunately the place is not as abandoned as it first seems as the place is the Turf of King James, leader of a vicious street gang played by Ice T. Paxtons character stumbles upon the gang killing someone off and a stand off ensues between the gang and the firefighters. Taking King James crippled brother hostage and unwilling to walk away from a fortune the tension ratchets up steadily as the two characters look for a way out from the mess.
Essentially a 90's update of The treasure of the sierra madre using the increasingly popular urban genre to give it a modern makeover. Walter hill delivers the goods here admirably making use of one location and a limited cast to deliver a compelling action thriller. Ry cooders score is excellent and comes across quite similar to the one he delivered for Last man standing. This really needs a Blu-ray
House of Bamboo
Robert Stack plays a military policeman who goes undercover as a lowlife named Eddie Kenner on the postwar streets of Tokyo to infiltrate a gang of ex G.I's led by the Psychopathic Sandy Dawson played to perfection by Robert Ryan. The gang is a tough nut to crack as they have a policy of killing any gang members who look like they might be captured. Eddie hooks up with a deceased gang members wife Mariko played by Shirley Yamaguchi and begins to fall in love as he slowly gains the gangs trust irritating Dawson's equally psychopathic 'ichiban' Griff played by Cameron Mitchell. Things come to a head when Eddies identity exposed which leads to a brutal showdown on the Streets of Tokyo.
I highly recommend anyone who hasn't seen this film to try and get a copy. Directed by Samuel Fuller its an almost perfect crime movie shot in beautiful cinemascope with beautiful cinematography and almost perfect framing. The film is a master-class on how to frame shots and film moving scenes. The acting is almost universally great, the plotting is excellent and the whole film feels rooted in film noir. It could be questioned as to why Robert Ryan's gang never runs into conflict with the Yakuza however that aside this is an almost perfect film in my opinion.
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